I love horror, but I'm not a gore/blood and guts horror fan. My favorite kind of horror creeps in like a mist on a cool summer evening, slowly building on real life horrors and adding elements of the mysterious and supernatural, leaving you chilled and unsettled. Books like Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones that take real life horror and meld them with otherworldly things to make you uneasy. And that is exactly what Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes does!

Now in full disclosure, I am a Bindery Tastemaker (obviously). However I actually requested this book on NetGalley prior to becoming one, and I do not believe in pulling punches for any of my reviews.

Our Sister's Keeper is a southern gothic horror about a town called East Cobb, Mississippi in the late 1920's. We get the story of a married couple who is moving to East Cobb to build their careers and start a family in what appears to be a utopia for black Americans in 1920's America. however, there is a supernatural undertone that is propping the town up. The women of the town see ghosts, and a group of young women in particular are asked to bear the burden's of the men, much to their own detriment.

This book was phenomenal, and has some of the elements that I love the most in horror. Sometimes, the most terrifying things are when reality gets about 25% more horrific with an injection of the supernatural.

This book explores some incredible themes, including generational trauma and the shared generational trauma of black Americans (especially during the time frame of the book), the burden of womanhood, and in particular the burden borne by black women. While not always easy to read from an emotional standpoint, the themes are handled well and explored thoroughly.

This book had me hooked from the start. The supernatural element of the story was so intriguing, and I love this concept of the women of this world using supernatural abilities to remove the burdens from the men, but in so doing cursing the town they're living in. This definitely has some Stepford Wives/Handmaid's Tale vibes to it, and the general sense of unease is present from the start. To mix supernatural horror with the true horror black Americans faced was unsettling, and the dystopian utopia of the town only added to the ambience.

I personally loved the structure as well. I thought the stories, past and present, were well timed and weaved together well, and they slowly built tension throughout to an absolutely grand climax at the end. Holmes weaves tension over time, keeping you locked in and slowly building the stress, horror, and tension as the book goes on. No jump scares here, or overly done gore or body horror for shock value. This is the type of book, to me, that builds genuine fear and dread.

Buffalo Hunter Hunter was my favorite book in 2025, and one of the things I loved is how it showed the promise of horror. Horror is not just cheap thrills - it can teach us and inform us about the horror of our reality and our past while adding some supernatural scares to the mix. Our Sister's Keeper does this just as well, and I am walking away from this book feeling very similar to BHH. It is unsettling, it is dark, and it is beautiful and everything I love about the horror genre.

This is definitely one I will be thinking and talking about for awhile, and I will absolutely be on the lookout for more from this author. A huge thank you to the author and Bindery for putting this up on NetGalley and allowing me to read it in advance of its publication. This book is out today (June 9, 2026), and I think you should go grab a copy!

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